Zoids: New Century Alpha
by Amateur Marauder
Summary: Echoes are not indigenous to sound. They can be bitter feelings that haunt you. That remind you. That inspire you. After Bit Cloud defeated the Berserk Fury, Dr. Laon was cast off from the Backdraft as a failure. However as time passes, Laon has not forgotten his shame, and he still holds his desire to implement his revenge. What echoes through his mind? One Word. Revenge.
1. The Century's End

**Chapter One**

**The Century's End**

In moments, the dust cleared, the rubble began to settle, and the small flames on charred and warped metal began to die. Visibility was low, and more falling materials began to impact the scorched earth. Whether they were from Zoid parts, or rubble from buildings, or even- pilots or people was unclear. The scene was a saddening and depressing one. On the ground itself, one of the Zoid pilots managed to somehow crawl out of their zoid- or rather; what was left of it.

Leena Toros had just climbed out of the cockpit of her Gun Sniper. The zoid was now reduced to a wreck, most of the zoid's weapons apart from the actual body of her machine. She didn't pay attention, nor did she notice how bad her own wounds were until she moved. There were bruises and cuts all along her body, and she felt as if she had broken her left arm in two. Her head was bleeding slowly, and tears were sprinting from her eyes to her chin. This didn't matter to her. She took a look at the scene of death around her, and it was something she couldn't have imagined nor prepared for in her worst nightmare. It took all of the happiness in her soul away in an instant.

"No. NOOOOO!"

She quickly fell to the ground. The dust and dirt in the air danced on her pale skin. She didn't care. Everything they prepared and fought for was all for naught. It was gone- all of it.

"Brad! Jamie!" Her voice screamed out into the distance, desperately praying for her comrades. Only silence returned her cries.

Reality then burned itself in upon her young mind. She looked hopelessly for the wreckage of a green Raynos, or the remains of a Shadow Fox. Her eyes met nothing but destruction around her. There were hundreds of motionless zoids, buried and literally collecting dust. More tears began to form in her eyes and her sobs of sadness became uncontrollable. She couldn't hope to control them, and she buried her face in her hands.

"NOOOOO!"

Her sobs were becoming louder and louder, but nobody was going to hear. Then, the only sign of any possible hope flashed into her mind.

"Bit! Bit! Where are you!" she cried out. Hoping for Bit Cloud to save the day once more, but that looked less and less realistic each passing second. Her life… and the century appeared to be over.


	2. The Blitz Team

**Chapter Two**

**The Blitz Team**

"Strike Laser CLAW!" The Liger Zero severed the arm of the yellow Iron Kong before it. "Yeah partner!" its pilot roared. "Only one more to go!"

The Blitz team was in the midst of their first Class S battle. They were facing the Crimson Team, the team that became a Class S team a year prior. Even though it was the most difficult battle they were ever in, they were firmly in control.

"Brad, now!" Bit Cloud yelled, the pilot of the Liger Zero.

His partner, Brad Hunter, heard the message from the cockpit of his Shadow Fox. "I got it! Move it fox!

Brad swiftly shifted his partner, the revolutionary Shadow Fox, into position that was the left flank of the second Iron Kong, its last opponent. The Iron Kong was far too busy focusing on two things. The first of these things was defending itself from the heavy fire of the final member of the Blitz Team. This was Leena Toros and her modified Gun Sniper. The second was focusing on the current position of Bit Cloud and his Liger Zero. Leena proved to command far too much of his attention however. She refused to ignore Jamie's cries to conserve ammunition.

"Oh yeah! You like this! Take that! And that! And some of this!"

The Iron Kong put up an energy shield to protect itself, leaving its back wide open.

"Move it fox! Laser Claw!"

The Shadow Fox jumped and severed the left arm off the Kong in one seamless attack. After the limb crashed to the desert sand, the loud horn sounded.

"The battle is over! The battle is over! The winner is… the Blitz Team!"

"YEEEEEEEEAH!" Leena and Bit shouted in unison!

"We did it! Our first Class S win!" Jamie yelled.

"And think of all the money we're going to get now!" Brad added.

"Get back in here team! It's time to celebrate!" Dr. Toros cheered, the leader and founder of the Blitz Team.

The team returned to their base, still celebrating and leaping for joy at their victory. To the pleasant surprise of the warriors, waiting for them was Leon Toros and Naomi Fluegel of the rival Fluegel Team.

"Well, Hiya Leon." Leena said. "It's a surprise to see you here, brother."

"Hey Leon!" Bit greeted.

"Fancy seeing you here." Brad also added.

"Well how could I not be here after seeing you guys win your first Class S battle?"

The entirety of the Blitz and Fluegel teams sat around the table in the middle of their living room. They feasted on their normal victory food, but the taste was somehow better after their new ranking. It was a rarity to see a team win their first battle in a new class, let alone in Class S. Brad could only see dollar signs in his eyes, Leena was calculating the amount of points she now had, and Bit was bragging about how invincible he and his Liger became. That is, until they were interrupted by a familiar face.

"You weren't going to invite me to your little charade?" they all heard.

They turned to see none other, than Harry Champ, the one destined to be king. Flanked by his two loyal robots, he fabulously and awkwardly entered the room as only he could.

"Harry?" Doc said mouth full of pizza. "What are you doing here?"

Harry smiled. "I came to congratulate the Blitz Team!" he then rushed to Leena's side at a breakneck pace. "And my Leena of course…"

"Yeah, yeah." Doc was not going to be the one to bring down the joy, even if that meant having to allow Harry Champ to flirt with his daughter for the next few hours. He shrugged, they won their match today, so it was justifiable to ignore. "Have a seat and help yourself!" he said.

Harry forced himself on the couch in efforts to sit between Bit and Leena. He poured himself a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice, and the celebration ensued.

"So what's next for the mighty Blitz Team?" Leon asked.

They all stopped and thought. Their answers weren't exactly out of character.

"More money, of course." Brad said, sipping coffee from his favorite white coffee mug.

"MORE POINTS!" Leena cheered, holding her fork high in the air.

"More wins!" Bit screamed. "Speaking of which; hey Doc! How's my debt coming along?"

Doc's eyes became as big and a white as dinner plates. "Oh look, a message from the Battle Commission." He noticed, conveniently ignoring Bit's question.

Jamie and Doc looked at the moving paragraphs.

"Our next match! Already?" Jamie yelled.

The entire room fell silent.

"This Sunday night! In Empire City Stadium?" he choked on his food.

Every Sunday night, two Class S teams are invited to fight in a massive dome on the outskirts of Empire City. The match is televised all over the planet. This was unlike the normal zoid battles, where most are televised according to region, and the location in which the battle is taking place. These battles earn three times the prize money of normal Class S battles (which would figure to be a _staggering_ amount, ask Brad about it), and provide amazing amounts of exposure to both teams involved. As well as teams getting money from not only television revenue, and advertisement revenue leading up to the fight, a share of the merchandise and ticket sales, teams also get hal of the money up front if they accept the invitation. The combined tandem of Bit and the Liger Zero would entice a lot of people to watch and attend and buy Liger Zero related merchandise. If the Blitz team won the match, they would make enough money to pay off all of their debts immediately, overhaul the zoids, and have enough left to double everyone's pay.. Well, the last one wasn't likely at all, but the possibility existed.

"Wow! That's truly an honor." Naomi said. "You guys should be proud, most Class S teams never get the chance to go on the national scene like that."

"Aren't we ever!" Bit roared. "Me and Liger are gonna show the world we're the best!"

"Think of all the money." Brad said, containing his excitement by drinking more coffee.

"Who's the unlucky team we're facing?" Leena asked.

"We'll find out tomorrow, and that's assuming the other team accepts the invitation by tomorrow as well." Jamie answered, taking a gulp of orange juice.

"Oh yeah, baby!" Bit raised his glass. "It just keeps getting better! To the Blitz Team!"

"Cheers!"


	3. The Marauder Team

**Chapter Three**

**The Marauder Team**

In about three hours, the initial joy and celebration wore off of the Blitz team's victory, and the people began to settle down and rationally talk. They turned on the television to more Zoid battles, and apparently, another big match was going on later that day. Not as big the Class S battle that the Blitz team was just a part of, but one that garnered a considerable amount of attention. The Blitz Team, the Fluegel Team and the Champ Team had their eyes fixated on their massive television as an attractive female reporter stood in a wide open desert, standing next to her helicopter.

"Hello, I'm live from the spot where another huge battle is supposed to be going on! Right here in this desert, Jack Sisco and the Tasker Sisters will be battling the rookie sensations, the Marauder Team!"

Bit and Leena looked confused.

"The Marauder Team?" Bit asked.

"I haven't heard of them." Leena said.

Harry choked up and buried his face in his hands. "Erm… I battled them a while back."

Everyone looked at Harry.

"They any good?" Bit asked.

Harry immediately regretted opening his mouth. "Yeah, they really are."

His faithful cybernetic partner, Sebastian, felt the need to add more. "We battled them _twice_. They beat us each time." This forced Harry to sulk even further into the seat.

"I haven't heard of them either." Leon added. "What's their rank?"

"They're the number one ranked C Class opponents." Sebastian said. "Honestly, they're the best C team you'll ever see.

"Then why is this match generating so much buzz?" Leon asked. "And why would Jack Sisco and the Tasker sisters even bother with this team?"

"The reporter will explain…" Harry said, defeated.

The attractive female began to speak again. "The main story of this match is the Marauder Team. They come from the snowy village of the north. They are all under eighteen years of age, and have had trouble gaining respect because of their age and lack of experience, and that they are a Community team. The highest ranked team they defeated was the Champ Team, who was on the lower end of Class B. That win vaulted them to their Number One Class C Rank." (this drew tears from Harry's eyes.)

"Being a Community Team, they are one of the few teams that do not care about the money, they use most of the money to restore and improve their village and their zoids. Well, you can bet the northern region will be tuning in today!"

"The Marauder team..." Bit mumbled to himself. "They battle for their hometown. Wow."

"Whatever." Brad said, now disinterested. "What's the point if it's not for profit?"

...

Thousands of miles to the north, snow fell lightly over the three Zoids and the landscape they positioned themselves in. The first Zoid was a White Command Wolf. Om its right the second was a blue De-Bison. Behind those two machines was a Blue Blade Liger. They all were being boarded a this ship, which resembled a severely undersized Whale King. There were also three pilots, who were standing on a platform, dressed in blue clothing, staring at the people in front of them, who were also dressed in all blue.

"Marauders!"

"You can do it!"

"We believe in you!"

The three pilots stood in line. The pilot to the left was the sixteen year old pilot of the Command Wolf. She was a normal height, of healthy weight, and stood in a blue jacket with a black band on her left arm. In the middle, was the sixteen year old pilot of the De- Bison. He was pale, had jet black hair, braces and was in a blue t-shirt with black sleeves underneath. To the furthest right, was the seventeen year old pilot of the Blade Liger. He was muscular and tall. He had on a blue hoodie with a black stripe along the right side. From left to right, their names were Anastasia Stafford, Desmond Foster, and Terrance Hatfield.

They were standing in front of the people of their snow covered village, and the people cheered them on before their upcoming match, as was tradition. However there was noticeably more excitement in the air as they were about to face their biggest opponent ever.

The Marauder Team hadn't beaten a single opponent in Class A, only because they haven't had a chance. This was because not a single team defeated a Class A team, so community teams were not taken seriously at all. Their record for against Class A teams was 0-26 since the ZBA was founded. The Marauder Team had feasted upon Class C teams and lower- tier Class B opponents, but they felt disrespected they were still ranked in Class C. Community teams were a combined 8-43 against Class B teams. Five of these wins were courtesy of the Marauder Team, and two of those five victories were against the Champ Team.

Today was different however. Using their impressive resume of twenty-one victories and no loses, and their decimation of the Champ Team five days ago, the Marauders team had to give Jack Sisco a promise of so much money that he couldn't refuse to ignore. The casual follower of Zoid battles would take a look and realize that the Marauders team had no shot, but the more avid fan had to think. Can they really?

"Well, you think we can do it?" Desmond mumbled to the other two, shivering from the cold.

Anastasia was nervous, and shaking from fear. "I hope so. They're all counting on us."

"Don't worry." Terrance told them. "We can't possibly lose. We've got this far."

Desmond shook his head. "How far? The Champ Team?"

"Shut your face." Terrance said.

The village mayor spoke to the villagers clad in blue.

"It is their time to head off to the battleground! We want them to know that we are all behind them and supporting them!" she spoke.

The crowd cheered loudly as the kids boarded the ship, along with their zoids. The noise was loud, but it would be nothing compared to if they won the battle. They arrived on the bridge of the ship, and strapped into seats, as the transporter ship pulled off, leaving a huge crowd of blue behind.


	4. The Start of an Era

**Chapter Four**

**The Start of an Era**

The judge satellite launched to the planet Zi, and slammed into the soft desert sand. On the right side of the judge, was a trio of rare Zoids.

"Are we ready?" Jack Sisco said to the other two members of his team, Chris and Kelly Tasker.

"All ready Jack. Let's hurry up and get paid." Chris Tasker airily expressed, filing her nails in the cockpit of her machine. "My favorite show is on."

"Ready to go." Kelly said, reading a magazine in the process.

They felt that their opponent was irrelevant. A Class C team was challenging the Class A team. They also happened to be the least Team to beat the Blitz team.

Moments later, they saw a transportation ship overhead. Their opponents had arrived to in the widest open area of the desert. Jack Sisco couldn't understand why he accepted the challenge to these "Class C Cinderella's", as the media called them. Then he realized how much money he stood to make. It made this a little more bearable.

"The ship is over the battlefield! Deploying Zoids!"

The ship lowered its altitude a few thousand feet.

"Blade Liger, deployed."

The Blue blade liger dropped from the ship onto the desert sand.

"Command Wolf, deployed!

"De-Bison, deployed!"

The other two Zoids dropped next to the Blue Blade Liger on the desert sand.

"Let's do it, Marauders!" Terrance yelled.

"Yeah!" Anastasia agreed.

"Let's go! MARAUDER!"

The next instant, the judge satellite dropped from the sky, and went through the formalities. The reporter went into the helicopter and the vehicle flew high above the landscape. "The match is about to begin! Don't turn your channel! The judge is here!"

Back at the base, the Blitz and Fluegel teams were all ready to see the fight; but contempt to sulk in the corner was Harry Champ.

"Well, we didn't best Jack our first time against him and his team let's see how they do." Brad said, sipping what was estimated to be his third cup of coffee.

"Well it's not like history is in their favor." Doc said.

Everyone looked at him for an explanation.

"They're a community organized and owned team. Most community teams never make it past C Class anyway. When Class C teams are going against opponents above their class, they have always lost, until the Marauder Team beat the Champ Team that is. (Harry sulked.) This is the first time a Class C team has even battled a Class A opponent, let alone a community team."

"Well, why is this match being televised then?" Bit asked.

"Well, this team is… different." Doc said. "They have been undefeated and have won some good battles against some proven opponents. Like the Champ Team, the Vipers Team and, as Bit called them, the Fuzzy Pandas."

Most of the people in the room laughed.

"Whatever, they're probably flukes anyway." Naomi said, scowling.

Back at the desert, the adrenaline was flowing, only on the Marauder Team.

"I'm a little nervous!" Anastasia said. "We haven't gone against a team like this!"

"Well, too late for that now! Remember our strategies!" Terrance yelled, and his Blade Liger roared.

The judge was ready to begin. "Area scanned. Battlefield set up! Battle mode: 0982. The Marauder Team versus the Lightning Team. Ready…! FIGHT!"

The Zoids all got into a bit of a roaring match. The loudest was the Blade Liger, as it seemed to take after Terrance, who was the most emotionally driven member. "Let's get a move on! Go Liger!" and his Blade Liger charged in quickly.

"Wait! Argh! Darn it, Terrance!" Anastasia shouted. "Remember, you stay back here, Desmond!"

And with that, the Command Wolf charged into the fray as well.

"Oh yeah. Stay behind. Whatever!" Desmond said.

"Chris! Kelly!" Jack roared. "They clearly don't know what they're doing. GO!"

The three Lightning Saixes roared, and charged off towards the oncoming Blade Liger using their trademark precision drafting strategy.

"Kelly!" Chris yelled to her sister. "Let's blow past these two and go after that D- Bison!"

"Why? That's not the biggest- Chris, look up!"

Chris Tasker looked up to see her attacker. Terrance's Blade Liger had its blades drawn and was about to slice the Zoid in half if she didn't react quickly enough. With the drafting strategy, Jack and Kelly flew past her sides, and her Zoids accelerated even faster, and Terrance's attack missed by the widest of margins.

"Darn it! I missed!" Terrance yelled as his Blade Liger landed, barely clipping the tail of the last Zoid in the line. "Hit them, Anastasia!"

"I got 'em lined up!"

Anastasia fired off several shots at the Lightning Saixes, all of them missing by an even wider margin.

"Oh my! Here they come!" Anastasia cried, and she turned around and ran back towards Desmond and his D- Bison.

"I got the assault lined up!" Desmond confirmed. "Just get out the way, Annie!"

"Wait, wait, wait! Don't shoot!" Anastasia pleaded. She sprinted as close as her command wolf allowed, and then she slid in the sand to duck the fire. "Okay, now shoot!"

"GO TIME!" Desmond yelled. Desmond fired from all of the cannons on the back of his Zoid, and caught nearly the entire Lightning Team of guard.

"These kids are starting to annoy me!" Chris Tasker grumbled. "Kelly move!"

The two girls split up and ran in separate directions to avoid the fire, and Jack Sisco tailed Chris Tasker. Chris moved to the right and was soon also evading fire from the white Command Wolf chasing her. When Kelly split up to the right, she didn't have as much luck. She was immediately tackled and brought down by the Blade Liger.

"You little brat!" she grimaced.

"Yeah, didn't think I'd just let you go!" Terrance taunted with a smile. "Argh!"

The Blade Liger took a few shots to its body and fell off of Kelly's Lightning Saix, courtesy of Jack Sisco.

"And now for that bison!" Jack yelled.

"Look up, Desmond!" Terrance yelled. "He's lining you up!"

But it was far too late. Jack fired a furious amount of rounds at the D-Bison, and all of the shots connected, knocking the Bison off its feet onto the ground.

"Desmond!" Terrance and Anastasia yelled in unison, but to no avail. Desmond was knocked out of the battle.

The Blade Liger struggled to get to its feet. "Ana! How you holding up over there?"

Anastasia was running away and dodging fire from Jack and Kelly.

"Not too well! Unless you want to help, we got plenty of time!" she added sarcastically.

"Here I come! Run towards me, I have an idea!" Terrance yelled.

"This better do something!" Anastasia yelled, and came full circle and charged at Terrance.

Leon looked at the television and scratched his chin. "It looks a little grim for them."

"Yeah, that D- Bison was the only thing that had the destructive power to defeat Jack. The Command Wolf hasn't nearly the offensive capabilities to fight a Lightning Saix." Jamie added.

"So, how do they win this one? Naomi asked.

"Easy! They'll think their way through it, I'm sure!" Bit said.

"Look here, Ana. On the count of three, jump as high as you can! I'm gonna draw my blades and take the both of them down." Terrance planned.

"Are you crazy!" she yelled back. "No way will that work!"

"One… Two…"

"Terrance, no!"

"THREE!"

Anastasia and her Command Wolf jumped over the Blade Liger the instant both of its blades were drawn, and Jack and Kelly were taken by complete surprise at the sight of the oncoming Blade Liger.

"Where did he come from?"

"Move it!"

Terrance's Blade Liger's blades connected with the Lightning Saixes in one quick and seamless motion. On its right, it severed the front and hind legs off of Kelly's Zoid, and barely clipped the paint on the legs of Jack's Zoid. Terrance imagined hearing the cheers of his hometown at the sight of Kelly going down.

"Darnit!"

"Okay, you got lucky!" Jack taunted to Terrance, now a safe distance away.

The Lightning Saix and the Blade Liger began to roar at each other, forgetting all else.

"So you say! You're the lucky one!" Terrance yelled back.

"AAAGH!"

Both pilots looked for the source of the female scream. The Command Wolf had been shot down.

"I got the wolf, Jack." Chris said, feeling very accomplished with herself. "Now for the Liger."

The Lightning Saixes closed in on the Liger slowly, as it stepped backwards.

"Well well…" Jack spoke. "Looks like your luck has run out."

Terrance smiled. "You wish. Desmond now!"

On cue, the forgotten D- Bison began to fire every missile and bullet it had into the area of the standing Zoids. Terrance managed to boost his Zoids acceleration to get out of the line of fire at the last moment, and the barrage hit the Lightning Saixes.

"Amazing!" Jamie said. "They had the D- Bison play dead the entire time! It was never ruled out!"

Naomi was impressed. "These kids sure aren't a fluke." Referring to the battle she lost against the Blitz Team, where Bit fluked out and defeated her.

"Wow. Amazing tactic. Playing dead. Well, they aren't good enough to go directly against the Lightning Saixes. So they do have to pull out some tricks." Leon said.

"Nice move!" Bit and Harry yelled in unison.

The smoke cleared, and there was still one Lightning Saix left. Jack Sisco was not done yet. However, rage was clearly on his face at the loss of Chris Tasker, who was knocked unconscious. "Well, maybe you do have some luck on your side, but it won't be enough to get you to victory!" With that, the Lightning Saix let off a vicious assault on the Blade Liger with its cannon.

"Argh! I can't take much more of this!" Terrance yelled out, trying to stand his ground, wishing for some shoulder guns.

Desmond radioed into his Zoid. "Terrance! Get the hidden blade attack ready!"

Terrance knew what the plan was, but he forgot exactly how to execute it. He should have paid more attention in the meeting room. Never mind that! It was time to act, not think. "Fine, just help me out… with all this fire!"

"I gotcha!"

Desmond fired off a single shot into the air, and then it seemed to break up, and all of the fragments were aimed at Jack Sisco.

"A mortar!"

Jack ran for it, and using his Zoids maneuverability, he easily avoided any damage. But when the mortar fell to the ground, there was no explosion, no bang. It was just smoke rapidly filling the immediate area.

"What? It's another trick! Where are you hiding, kid! You can't hit me!" Jack yelled out, staying still. If he was to move, the advantage would be to his opponent. Jack figured the Blade Liger was as blind as he was. After all, Blade Ligers are incompatible with equipment that allows pilots to see heat signatures.

Terrance smiled. "I'm here Jack! You can't avoid what you can't see!" Terrance was in the air even in the midst of the thick smoke, and another blade was drawn out from the Ligers right paw, heading directly for Jack Sisco. "Hidden Blade Attack!"

The villagers were all watching the battle unfold from their homes as the snow fell outside. The village was quiet, all eyes on a television screen.

"I can't see anything!"

"They're in the smoke!" "

"What is going on!"

In what felt like an eternity, the smokescreen cleared out. What was then seen was a blue Blade Liger's paw, on top of the neck of a downed Lightning Saix.

Everyone's hearts and minds were expecting the judge to speak those words nobody expected to hear when he crashed down. "The battle is over! The battle is over! The winner is… the Marauder Team!"

The entire village screamed and yelled in happiness and joy. They ran from their homes to the center of their village, and in mere moments, the scene was pure pandemonium of excitement and glee, and people were yelling so loud, it could be heard halfway around the world.

"I don't believe it!" the female reporter yelled. "They upset has happened! Hell has frozen over! A Class C community team has defeated a top tier Class A team! Unbelievable!"

The world was stunned.


	5. Means for Revenge

**Chapter Five**

**The Means for Revenge**

Dr. Laon wandered through the desert. If there ever was an image of a more battered and defeated man, it would be stunning to see. The punishment he endured for failing the Backdraft group was nowhere near lacking in severity. He was immediately dismissed, all of the Zoids under his command were taken, he was stripped of any and everything he owned and cast off into the desert. He had never been so humiliated. After all, the Backdraft Group had enough success in the first place only because of him! Those ungrateful prudes! He found the berserk fury! He made the armor for it from the ground up! It was him that made Vega Obscura! Vega was the reason that the plan failed, not Laon. Or was it Bit Cloud and the Liger Zero that led to his demise?

Laon pondered these thoughts as he walked endlessly through the desert in the most remote recesses of the planet. He had nothing to his name but the clothes on his back. His anger and hate was running through every cell of his body, and the boiling temperatures were making it no easier on his mind. He wanted revenge; and he wanted it now. The only liquid for miles was the sweat escaping his body, and the sun didn't look to set for another three hours. He then realized that this was a desert that not even the ZBA would allow people to battle on. Yet he was dropped off here and suffered a fate worse than death. In the distance in a mound of sand, something caught his eyes. It was a huge black box in the distance. Was it a mirage? It's not like he had a choice, and he walked towards it.

The farther he walked, the further away the object seemed to go. He knew he had to walk towards it. He had to. He knew that it was something to look forward to finding. Then again, anything in the desert looked like a ray of hope. He ran faster and faster, disregarding how hot he was until he thought he could run anymore. Until he thought his body would give out under the immense heat, until he saw _it_. What he saw before him, in the hopeless and lifeless dessert was his tool, his idea, the instrument of his revenge. The Backdraft group, Bit Cloud, and Toros had their days numbered. The sheer though made Laon smile. His time for his re-rise to power would be now.

….

"That was amazing!" Bit Cloud exclaimed. "That was amazing! Doc, can we play them!"

Doc was speechless. He had no idea that a team such as the Lightning Team could lose, and he never would have imagined that a team as elite as they could be baited in such a simple plan! Never in his lifetime would he have expected this type of outcome. The Marauder Team did not go one-one-one with any of the Lightning Saixes! They had to confuse and plan against them with smoke and mirrors! Just the sheer fact that all of the Lightning Saixes were taken down according to plan made Doc shiver, and made Jamie jealous. The degree to which they must think ahead is purely amazing.

"Well Naomi, still think they fluked out?" Brad asked. "After all, after this win, they're gonna get paid well."

Naomi was too stunned for words. "Whatever…"

"Wow, I really don't hope that we have to compete against them anytime soon." Leon said, laughing.

Bit was too excited to care. "I want to go against that Blade Liger! Did you see those blades in its paws! That's awesome! Doc! Doc!"

"Calm down, Bit." Doc said. "It's a wonder how a team as talented as they are is still in Class C."

"Well, it's obvious that they're great." Harry said. "They beat me! After all, I'm destined to be king."

Brad took a sip of his coffee. "That says more about you, than about them, Harry."

"HEY! I said I'm a man destined to be king. Watch it Brad!"

"Can we start planning for our next opponent and get the Fox fixed up? I want to get paid." Brad mumbled.

If there ever was a time Bit wanted to get back on the battlefield, it was now. "Yeah, let's move!" Bit Cloud roared.

"Calm down you two." Leon told them. "It's only Tuesday, and you don't know who your opponents are."

Bit and Brad slouched in their chairs and sighed.

"Oh, Doc. That reminds me. There's a question I been meaning to ask you." Brad said.

Everyone in the room looked at Brad.

"What happened to the Backdraft group? I mean it has been over six months since we won the Cup and we haven't seen or heard anything about them."

Doc pondered and scratched his head for a while. Naomi, Bit, Leena, Harry and Leon all leaned in. They haven't thought about it. What did happen to the Backdraft group?

"Well, it could be one of two things. The first is that they really could've disbanded. They lost a lot of money on Vega losing to Bit."

"And what's the other thing?" Bit eagerly asked.

"They could be planning something big. Big enough to take a long amount of time and planning, and trying to scrounge up enough money to get it together."

"Something big?" Naomi asked. "Like taking over more Zoid battles?"

"Not just taking over battles and forcing pilots to battle them, that's too small scale for them." Doc explained. "My guess, they would want to take down the ZBA that ultimately set them back. With no ZBA, there is no system or governance over the battles and there would be anarchy with the battles. After that, they have a clear path to domination by taking advantage of people picking each other off for supremacy."

The room fell completely silent.

"Or I could just be joking and the Backdraft could really be gone for good. HA HA HA!"

Everyone fell from their seats to the floor.

Bit was the first to scramble to their feet. "Not funny doc!"


	6. Reversal of Fortunes

**Chapter Six**

**Reversal of Fortunes**

Terrance was on his personal phone in his small room. Currently, the Crusaders team was asking him for his services in the upcoming match on Sunday. They could not possibly compete with the Blitz Team's Liger Zero, as they were a team built primarily for long-range fighting. Seeing as the fight would be indoors, their range was severely limited. A Blade Liger would be a massive asset for any team, especially theirs.

"Three times the usual amount? Bonus for winning?" he said, talking on the phone. "Put it in my account right now and we have a deal." Quickly opening up a different application on his phone, Terrance looked online at his bank account he saw how low his funds were. They shot up at least twelve times in less than a second. He nearly jumped for joy. "We have a deal. Send me an e-mail of your updated battle plans and I'll see you in the city Sunday."

With that, he hung up. Terrance was one of the greatest pilots for his age, and he is all for the community that sponsors his team, but after he paid off his Zoid from the village with his last battle, it was time for him to maximize his resources. His local contract he signed when he was fourteen which forbid him piloting for any other team, usually why pilots steer clear of community teams. Now that he is seventeen with the winnings from his last battle, he earned enough money to buy the Zoid from the village. ZBA law then ranks high over his current contract, meaning it's his property and he can use it as he see fit. As soon as he hung the phone call up, Anastasia walked in his room.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Oh nothing." Terrance said airily, opening his computer and checking the internet for videos of the Liger Zero. "What brings you here?"

Anastasia put her hands on her hips. "Don't brush me off like that!" she demanded.

Terrance didn't take his eyes off his computer screen. "Nobody at all."

Anastasia gave Terrance the dirtiest look she could muster. "Terrance!"

Terrance let out a hefty sigh. Her persistence was never one to subside. "I'm going to pilot my blade liger this weekend against the Blitz Team."

"What? The contract forbids it!" she screamed.

"Well, I found a loophole. The Blade Liger just became mine. ZBA law allows me to pilot it as I want to. It overrides the Marauders contract."

Anastasia was upset. "Why!? Why would you leave us!?"

"I mean, I'll still pilot for us, but I gotta take a few jobs on the side." Terrance explained. "I got bigger dreams than this village."

"What! They gave you food and shelter and a Zoid!" Anastasia protested.

"Only because they were obligated by contact to do so."

Terrance wasn't trying to sound as negative as he was sounding, but her did have bigger dreams than this village. He would still fight for it as he was required to. In a few more months when he turned 18, other teams could make a deal with him to become a full time member. Various media outlets said he was the pilot to take the Champ team to the next level.

This only bothered Anastasia because she knew he was bound to leave sooner or later. Talent at his level doesn't stay unrecognized. She feared that even though they made memories fighting together, it would mean nothing after he left. If Terrance was to leave, then Desmond would be sure to leave since his parents can terminate the contract whenever they see fit. Just as they were fighting two days ago as the best of friends, growing up would shove their friendship in the backseat. Anastasia left the room fighting back tears.

….

Laon yawned and stretched underneath a structure. Whether this was the structure he was looking for or not, he never found out. A brutal sandstorm swept through the landscape and left his blind and disoriented. After sitting under something with his eyes closed for the better part of seven hours, he rose from his dormant spot as the sun rose over the recently reshaped desert. Dusting off his shirt, he walked into the furious mid-morning heat of the desert, and decided to explore just what was above him.

"What is this?" he stammered to say. "Is it? Could it be?" He ran away from the structure to get a better view. "I don't believe it!"

Whatever the structure was, it was further cleared by the sandstorm that happened last night. He had to find a way in this! The first token of hope he had ever seen in this depressing desert was in front of him! Fueled by a mix of desperation and excitement, he ran around the south side of the structure and he feverishly searched for an entrance, a sign, or simply a way to activate this. Then, as his search looked the most futile, he pushed through a loose piece of armor, and found his way inside. Wasting no time, he ran in the structure escaping the heat. After minutes of crawling and forcing his way through small parts of the structure, he found a corridor.

Laon walked around, and it took him a few steps to adjust to the concept that he was no longer walking on sand. He walked through a small corridor. He then walked into a cockpit. He took a peek around and saw this was deteriorated and left abandoned. The ZBA would have normally cleaned this up. However, it occurred to him that there was a reason nobody was allowed in the desert. They couldn't transport this Zoid, and wanted nobody to see it for fear of theft.

By pure luck, he found the instrument of his revenge. He was sitting in the cockpit of the formerly great Deathsaurer. The power and happiness flooded to his mind that he finally had something to believe in.

With a mighty roar, he screamed as loud as his voice would allow. "Toros! You are mine!"

…..

"A… a… choo!" Doc sneezed.

Doc was at the table of the base eating breakfast with the team. They keyword here is "was." He sneezed over all of the food.

"Doc, I think you have a cold!" Jamie said. "I told you not to take so long of a shower!"

"So you took all of the hot water this morning!" bBit yelled.

"You know what they say, dad." Leena told him. "Whenever you sneeze randomly, someone is talking about you."

Just then, Bit Cloud sneezed as well.


	7. Beginning of the New Century

**Chapter Seven**

**The Beginning of the New Century**

Jamie looked at the moving paragraphs and diagrams on the massive screen before him, his jaw began to creep faster toward the floor with each line of text his eyes ran across.

"Oh no! This is not good!" he cried out. "No no no no!"

Sitting on the sofa behind him, Brad stopped sipping his coffee. "What's the problem, Jamie?"

"That Blade Liger on the Marauder team is going to pilot against us this weekend!"

Brad was almost in an uproar. "You can't be serious!"

"The battle commission approved it at 6am this morning! And it's Thursday evening! How are we supposed to plan for that with this kind of short notice!?"

Leena and Bit walked into the room. Bit was carrying several bags of groceries that obviously were too heavy for him, and Leena was conveniently carrying nothing but her purse.

"What's all the commotion about?" Leena asked.

Jamie was too busy having a mental breakdown to answer Bit Cloud, so Brad answered. "Remember that Blade Liger that beat Jack Sisco? It's playing for the Crusaders Team."

Bit dropped all of the groceries on the floor. "Are you serious? They got the Blade Liger!? YES!"

"Yeah, this drastically changes the strategy!" Jamie panicked. "We have more attacks to worry about!" Jamie said in panic.

Doc walked into the room. "Oh I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle."

"But Doc, what are we gonna do!?" Jamie pleaded. "We have to compensate for the lack of-"

"Nonsense Jamie. All we need is Liger Zero Schneider instead of the Zero Jager and we level the playing field."

"But Doooooooooooooooooooc! What about the Iron Kong!" Jamie pleaded.

"It's simple Jamie. Each Zoid goes one-on-one with its counterpart. Zero Schneider against the Blade Liger, the Shadow Fox can easily out maneuver the Iron Kong and blind it like we planned. The Gun Sniper can hold out until Bit or Brad finish up."

"As long as I get paid." Brad said, crossing his legs as he continued drinking his coffee.

"Alright. I guess I got it. Be sure that you load all my ammo up nicely, Jamie." she then airily left the room.

"Oh yeah! Me and Liger can handle that Freshman kid! Don't you worry, Jamie!"

….

About two hundred miles away, Terrance sneezed hard enough to cause a nose bleed.

"A-CHOO!"

"Someone must be talking about you pretty hard, Terrance." Desmond sneered with a playful laugh.

The boys were in a small and dark conference room. Accompanying them was Anastasia and their team manager. They were looking at the film of the Soaring Team, their next opponent. At least, they were supposed to be studying. Terrance was texting on his phone, Desmond looked as if he was about to slip into a coma at any second, and Anastasia was trying to get the other two to pay attention. In an unprecedented manner, they managed to get into the lower part of Class B. However, they still garnered no respect, and still had to fill their schedule with Class C teams. Terrance couldn't wait to leave this team to play some real competition on a weekly basis. The man in front was looking at all of them, upset at the lack of attention he was getting.

"Hey! Pay attention here!" he yelled.

"You said something?" Terrance asked.

"I'm awake." Desmond said, lifting his head up.

"I demand more respect than this! We must review to see what we can do better next match. We can't let our undefeated streak go to our heads!"

Just then, a person nearly kicked down the door.

"Sir! Turn on the news!"

The four people in the room looked at the man who just barged in.

"Whats going on?" Anastasia asked.

"Just turn on the news!"

The man turned off the projection screen and turned on the broadcast, and there was a panicked woman on screen.

"Today, one of the most fearsome attacks has ever happened. Here in the Eastern Forest on Zi's Great Peninsula, there was a sighting of a massive Zoid. Not only that, this massive Zoid had come and demolished the entire area."

Then, the news showed a massive plain. There was nothing here but dirt. Literally. It was impossible to believe that this was once a simple forest.

"This area has been confirmed as the dormant headquarters of the backdraft group. Upon the first investigation by Zi police and the Zoid Battle Commission, the only weapon that could have done this was a massive strike of a Charged Particle Gun. This was confirmed several hours later, as they found enough remaining particles in the air to lead them to believe that there was more than one Charged Particle Gun fired at one time. As ZBA law states, there can't be a Zoid with more than one Charged Particle Gun, and there have been no records from part shops of Charged Particle Guns."

Anastasia gasped. "How is that possible for a Zoid to sustain such power! That is insane!"

The woman on the screen appeared again. "However, the dilemma here is that we hear noise of building going on at this site. We have not been able to get close to the massive plain because we are attacked and driven out of there. Unmanned Zoids are shot down on sight, and this area shows up as a grey area on every satellite map. The ZBA and the Zi police force are working to get in, but nothing is working to get even close to the area. We will bring more details to you as the story develops."

Everyone in the room had their jaws drop. Something big was about to happen. Whatever or whoever it was, it was powerful enough to level an entire forest into a desolate plain. Nobody in the village could think of what, nor whom, would do such a thing. However, hundreds of miles south, at a base in the middle of the desert knew who did it and why. The only question was, what would the attacker do next?

Hundreds of miles away, Doc sneezed. It was then at this moment, he knew exactly was capable of doing this.


	8. Gatecrashing

**Chapter Eight**

**Gatecrashing**

Doc sat back in his comfortable chair and pondered. Why would Laon destroy the Backdraft? What Zoid did he find that had the destructive power able to accomplish such destruction? What was Laon going to do next? Doc for the life of him couldn't answer any of these questions. Wasn't he a high ranking official of the Backdraft Group? The news had reports of construction being heard. What kind of construction? Was he building a factory? Why would he do that? Was he going to war? He couldn't be. Toros was the one he wanted.

"Doc!" Jamie yelled for the umpteenth time. "We're at the stadium, is it time to deploy?"

Doc tried to force the thoughts out of his troubled mind. Unfortunately, this did nothing at all for him. He kept having the feeling the Liger Zero would still attract a lot of attention for Laon. However with such a powerful weapon at his disposal that could take down the Liger in the first place, why would he need the Liger at all? Then again, Laon used Genousaurers in an attempt to defeat the Berserk Fury. As if Genousaurers weren't rare enough, he used the last four in existence to do so.

"Go ahead Jamie." Doc said unsurely.

"All right!" Jamie yelled.

Doc and Jamie were in a press box at the top and far back of the stadium. The Hover Cargo was prohibited because it would not fit in the stadium, and mobile bases are illegal in stadiums. Dubbed the "Liger Rule", this thoroughly rendered the CAS useless, so if the Schneider failed, the battle was over.

The three Zoids were set garage towards the north end of the stadium. In a few moments, the Shadow Fox, the gun Sniper and the Liger Zero Schneider stepped from behind a large metal door and were suddenly in a huge arena. Bit recognized it as one similar to the place that he had to battle the Elephander to win his Liger back. Taking a look around, and he saw such a large and loud crowd, all gathered to see his ultimate X. The roar of the crowd bounced off the walls of his cockpit, and Bit couldn't be happier.

"Yeeeeeeeeah! Let's go!" Bit roared.

Brad, keeping his usual laid back demeanor, was also eager and ready to begin. "Well, let's get this done!"

On the other side, the other team revealed themselves from behind their own metal door. The Blitz Team saw two Black Iron Kongs and one Blue Blade Liger. "Remember why we're here guys. We have a match to win!" Jamie yelled to them.

"Don't worry Jamie! We got this!" Bit yelled.

The judge, who was wall mounted to the right of the Blitz team, got ready to call out and begin the match.

"The Blitz Team versus the Midnight Team. Battle mode 0977. Ready? FIGHT!"

The noise of the Zoids roaring, coupled with the roar of the crowd, was enough to make anyone go deaf. As was the plan of both teams, one-on-one matchups were kicked off. The best of this everyone was looking at was the matchup between the hard working Terrance, and Bit and his Ultimate X. This one was the fiercest, and they were immediately at a stalemate. Terrance's knowledge and film of both his Zoid and Bit's kept him in the match. The teamwork of Bit and the Liger Zero were also keeping up with the skill of the Blade Liger. The two Ligers had all blades drawn, clawing and slashing at each other with killer intent, and with as much power as they could muster.

"C'mon Liger we got him!" Bit yelled. "Buster Slash!"

Bit's attack missed by a slim margin, and the Blue Blade Liger spun around and unsheathed a blade from it's paw, and had a clear path to victory with a vulnerable Zero Schneider.

"Got him! Hidden blade attack!"

The Blade Liger jabbed its paw at the passing Zero Schneider, but it only scratched the side of the liger, because Leena misfired from her battle going on over the other side. Leena's trigger happy battle tendency, coupled with her atrocious aim, virtually saved Bit Cloud from leaving the battled. What's even better, Terrance and Bit both knew it.

"Thanks Leena! That was too close!" Bit radioed to her. "I almost got a little reckless."

"No problem Bit!" Leena said. "Get your head in the game! Wait, what the-"

Leena's attention was taken by a Blue Blade Liger running at her at full speed. Leena fired from every cannon she had, but due to how quickly the situation unfolded in front of her, she had no time to truly aim any of her weapons. The Blade Liger drew it's blades and after taking several bullets to its armor, it sliced her entire Zoid _in half._

Leena was eliminated from play.

He backed away from the remains of the Gun Sniper, and took a deep breath before readying himself for another round with the Liger Zero.

"Here I come!" Terrance yelled.

"Bring it, kid!" Bit yelled back.

The Blue Blade Liger hardly accelerated before it was knocked to the side by a flying Zoid.

"Surely you didn't forget about me, did you?" Brad taunted.

The Zoid that flew into Terrance's blade Liger was an Iron Kong balled up in to one heap of scrap. Brad had made light and easy work of it. The Shadow Fox was far too agile for the Iron Kong to stand a chance, not to mention that this modified Iron Kong was built for a long range battle three times the size of the arena it was playing in.

The Blade Liger got to its feet and charged at the Zero Schneider.

"Bit!" Brad communicated. "Their plan was to keep the Iron Kongs at a distance and have the Blade Liger move around just to make it easier for them to line us up. As long as we surround this Blade Liger and keep moving, the Iron Kong won't be a threat."

Bit understood, but only a little. "But won't it be easier for the Iron Kong to aim for us if we ignore it?"

Brad jabbed a thumb at the Iron Kong. "Those long-range cannons on its back take a relatively long time so shift in a horizontal fashion. So even if he sees a shot he wants to take, he has to take a second or two longer to for his weapons to line up. With our speed it won't be a problem."

Brad and his Shadow Fox moved to Bit's side. "Ready for him?"

"Of course!" Bit said. "Let's get outta here with a win!"

Just as Bit readied the Nine Blade Attack and Shadow Fox readied the Strike Laser Claw, the unthinkable happened. The stadium shook violently, putting the battle on hold for a moment. Silence overtook the stadium, and every the world seemed to pause for this moment.

"What are you doing!?" Brad yelled to the Blade Liger.

"Me!?" The Blade Liger and the Shadow Fox began to get into a roaring match. "What are you doing!? None of this is me!"

The Liger Zero roared with the two other Zoids as well. "What's going on here!?"

In hindsight, they all would wish it was their opponent. With a fearful tremble of earth, a massive pink beam of light struck through the entire arena. It missed the Zoids, but hit the spectators in the stands. The protective force fields did nothing to hold up. Without a doubt, it was a Charged Particle Cannon; a big one.

"All of those people!" Bit yelled. He had never seen an assault like that.

"Why would someone do that!?" Terrance yelled.

"Quickly! MOVE!" Brad bellowed, and the three Zoids scattered as a Charged Particle Beam hit the exact spot they were standing moments ago.

"Good call, Brad." Bit said, now safely away.

The three warriors stood back to back, side by side, looking for some trace of who- _or what_- did all of this senseless destruction for no apparent reason. As they looked up, another pink beam of light was fired through the ceiling, sending the dome crashing below onto the Zoids and most importantly, the fans.

Over in the far back press box, Jamie and Doc were trying their mightiest to scramble out of the room. That is, until Jamie spotted their attacker through a hold in the dome.

"Doc!" Jamie yelled. "Look up!"

Doctor Toros looked up. The sight his brain processed nearly made his heart quit. He could see the head and torso of one of the most feared Zoids of all time. He saw the Deathsaurer. Not only did he see it, he saw it charging its Charged Particle Gun, and it was aiming straight for where Toros stood.


	9. Power Trip

**Chapter Nine **

**Power Trip**

Dr. Laon sat down in the hangar staring at his unbeatable Zoids. He had always heard of what the Deathsaurer was capable of. He had no idea that he would ever find it, and he also had no idea that he would ever be able to utilize this power. He had destroyed half a city by the time the Zoid ran low on power. He didn't even mean to do it! The Zoid acted mostly on its own! He hardly had control. It just felt so- right. Yet it wasn't. He had not felt at all guilty until he stepped out of the cockpit. Had he really lost sight of what he wanted? Who he was? What his plan was?

He sat with his face buried in his hands as the Deathsaurer glared at him menacingly. Laon does not kill people, but the death toll was clearly in the thousands. He only wanted the Liger Zero! He only wanted Toros! He only desired to prove his point! He did that, they all knew he did it. He tried to justify his actions, to find a silver lining in the dark clouds of acid rain pouring over his head, but there was not one. Does the Deathsaurer make ones true intentions come out? When Laon was in the cockpit, did he not feel reckless? Everything felt so right. In his Zoid, he was nothing less than a God. Did all that power cloud his better judgment and morals? Even villains with thoughts of revenge have to have ethics! Laon felt as if his mind was going to explode.

"What is going on!" he yelled to the Deathsaurer. "Why? Why did you make me do that!"

Laon was losing it. He did not wish to kill thousands of people. He did not wish to take down half of the biggest the city in the world. All he wanted was to take over the remains of the Backdraft and exact his revenge on Toros. He didn't ask for all of the extra things that came with this!

"_You wanted it."_

A voice was suddenly audible in his head. How? There was nobody here but him and the Deathsaurer.

"_You know how that power felt. You loved every second of it."_

The Deathsaurer was talking to him. He had only heard rumors of Zoids being able to communicate with their pilots. Is it like Vega and the Berserk Fury? Was it like Bit and the Liger Zero?

"What?"

"_You loved the power. You felt in control."_

Laon was a hair away from a complete mental breakdown.

"No! I didn't want people to die!" Laon yelled. "I just wanted-"

"_You can lie to yourself, but not to me. As long as your goal was accomplished you could care less."_

Laon was in the full fetal position. He couldn't take it. He didn't know how to feel anymore. Tears flowed from his eyes. His pride and resilience flowed out his body faster than his tears. He was having a full psychological and emotional meltdown.

"NOOOOOO! I didn't! I didn't mean to! It was just the power! It felt so good!"

"_That's barely half of what I am capable to do."_

Laon's tears subsided, if only for a second. The idea that the Deathsaurer had more potential flashed in his mind. He would get his revenge. Yet, did he even want revenge anymore? He had his chance, and he killed innocent people. What if he couldn't stop the next time? What if he hurt something far more important? What if the next time in the fight against Toros- he hurt Leena?

"I don't know! I don't think I want any more of this!"

"_You are false. You want to hurt Toros even more for main you look so pathetic right now!"_

Tears flowed again. What did he even wan anymore. He could no longer distinguish between right and wrong anymore. He loathed Toros, but maybe he was going too far. Was the Deathsaurer using his own darkness and anger to fuel him? The answer was yes. And there was nothing Laon could do about it. He was in a far too vulnerable emotional state. Any sign of hope for an outlet he could find, he would take in a heartbeat.

"Toros… Toros…" The hate in Laon was all that was building inside his soul.

"_That's right. It is entirely his fault."_

"Toros… Toros…" It was clear now. This was Laon's only truth.

"_You now know what you must do."_

Laon dried his tears and his face and stood up. He prepared to build a massive army. This was going to end. Toros would be screaming for mercy. The Liger Zero would no longer exist, and Laon's power would know no limits. Fueled by nothing but hate and anger and jealousy, Laon prepared to end all of the suffering in his life. He no longer cared how it happened. It was going to happen- and it was going to happen soon.


	10. A Second Meeting

**Chapter Ten**

**A Second Meeting**

"I'm just finishing up your wounds, relax!" Leena yelled.

"No! You relax!" Terrance yelled back.

"NO! YOU'RE THE RESTLESS ONE!"

"Says the one with the heavy hands!"

Terrance was in the guest bed of the base, and Leena was dressing his wounds from the battle with the Ultrasaurus two days ago. It seems that they had barely escaped from the fire, and still the entire base was on edge. There were too many unanswered questions, and no person had answers of any kind.

"What's with all the yelling?" Brad asked as he walked into the room. Accompanying him was Bit Cloud.

"Nothing!" Leena yelled. "He's fine!"

"I'd be fine if you weren't poking aggressively at my ribcage!" Terrance complained.

"I'll show you aggressive really means!" Leena yelled, her temper flaring up as usual.

"Leena, calm down." Brad protested. "Look at this kid. He's up and at 'em again. Thought we wouldn't be seeing those eyes again for a while."

"Yeah, yeah. That's what I get for saving you, Brad. I didn't forget." Terrance added with a scowl. "And then there's Bit."

"Hey how ya holding up there?" Bit asked.

"Well ya know, still upset over you shoving a blade in my Ligers side!" Terrance said, anger stained in his voice. "Other than that, I'd have to say I'm upset over me saving Brad and getting a concussion and my Liger losing a leg. But you know, all peachy now."

"Hey, that was a complete mistake!" Bit yelled back.

"Oh yeah, it was a complete misunderstanding. I believe that."

Bit smiled. "Exactly!"

Terrance face palmed himself. "You don't get sarcasm do you?"

"Hey! I do get-"

Just then, Doc walked into the room, and Jamie was by his side.

"Well, I see he's up and about." Doc said with a smile.

"I'm still working on the 'about' part." Terrance replied.

Doc ignored the slight irritation he noticed in Terrance's voice. "Well, we fixed your Blade Liger. Don't worry, we'll charge you for it later."

"WHAT!"

"Under one condition though." Doc added. "You join our team and we'll buy out your current contract. I'll garnish your wages until you pay me back that buyout. And I'lll waive the fee from fixing your Blade Liger."

Every single person in the room was silent.

"Doc are you serious?" Jamie asked with a dumbfounded expression. "We can't afford to pay him! He's too reckless and the Blade Liger costs too much in repairs! We'll be in debt forever! We can't afford him and Brad at the same time!"

Doc quickly covered Jamie's mouth and then looked back at Terrance gleefully. Terrance wanted to be on a different team, and desperately. A team that played for real profit was too much to resist. Even though he liked being a community team, but he wanted more respect and prestige and money. He wanted to show off his skills in Class S, which wasn't to high above his level.

"So what? I save one of your pilots, and all of the sudden you feel like you're obliged to give me an opportunity? One of your pilots stuck a blade through me! They're the reason I'm here. So you feel sorry for me and want me to join this random cast of characters? You guys piss me off! Every single one of you!"

The smile vanished from Doc's face. "Well, I can understand. Looks like you are fine and you're zoid is finished. You can take off whenever you're ready. Come on Jamie, we have repairs to the Shadow Fox to make."

"Thank you. On that note I better leave. It'll take me all day to get back home." Terrance said as he rose from his mattress.

He put on his blue t-shirt and his black jacket on and walked out of the room towards the hangar.

"What was Doc thinking inviting him to the team!?" Bit yelled, while Terrance was conveniently out of earshot.

"Well, he did do a lot for us and proved himself that last battle, Bit." Brad explained. "But I don't want him either. He'd take away from my cut of the cash."

Bit thought. "Well yeah, and- wait a sec. Where'd Leena get off to?"

They looked around, and saw in fact saw that Leena was absent from the room. When did she check out?

Terrance on the other hand was walking down the stairs to get into the hangar. As he walked in, he observed a few things. First, Brad's Shadow Fox was just as badly damaged as his Blade Liger was. So apparently Brad defended him after he fell unconscious. Second, the gun sniper was not showing and signs of being damaged at all. This was surprising, simply because he literally sliced it in half.

Three, he looked at the Liger Zero. For a moment, it sounded like it was… talking to him. As he was walking closer to his own liger, he suddenly felt that he could approach the Liger Zero, dare he do the unthinkable, even go in the Liger Zero. As he inched closer to his own machine, he stared at the Liger Zero. Was it staring back at him? No way, the Liger was simply in a dormant position. It had to have been all in his head. He had to have been imagining this. Was he really? The Liger wasn't exactly looking past him, but rather it was- studying him. Then he heard it whisper something to him. He couldn't decipher for the life of him what it was.

"What?" Terrance said to the liger.

"I didn't say anything."

Leena came from behind the leg of the Liger Zero, staring at Terrance.

"Was there a reason that you were watching me?" He said.

"Well not really, I just wanted to ask you something." She told him.

Terrance gave her a look of confusion. "Ok. Proceed."

"Well, what do you plan to do after you get home? The Deathsaurer is still out there after all."

Terrance paused to think. "I have a feeling I'll be seeing the Blitz team again very soon. I don't like that feeling, because that means something terrible just happened."

Terrance climbed to the cockpit of his zoid, and within minutes he took off on his four hour journey home. Leena was left in the hangar, hoping that she wouldn't see Terrance as quickly as he said.

….

The sun was setting, and Terrance and his Blade Liger were running through snow.

"Almost home." He said.

However, all was not right. He made it through the clearing, and saw no village. Rather, he saw the remains of a village. Smoke was rising from remains of buildings. There was rubble everywhere on the ground, and there was no building standing.

"What? What happened?"

The answer was obvious. The Deathsaurer was here. The charged particle cannons and the long range cannons were the only things that could to this ungodly amount of damage. There were no tracks in the light snow on the ground, which further pointed to the Deathsaurer. It is smarter to use it to fight from a distance and allow your enemy to come to you. Laon had to have been looking for him. That would only make sense. He might have been wondering if the Blitz team took to hiding here as opposed to their normal spot.

Limping through the destroyed village, he had no idea what to do. Entire homes and businesses were even reduced to nothing. There were only three Zoids to defend this village, and the strongest one wasn't there. Terrance's heart felt a twinge of guilt. Had he not fought in the night battle, this would have been prevented.

He then heard a soft voice calling him from close by. "Terrance…!"

Terrance's well trained ears heard a soft voice calling him from close by.

"Terrance"

He heard it again. It was very close. Someone sounded weak, close to dying even. He opened up the cockpit to his Blade Liger, and set the head of it closer to the ground so he could leap off. He breathed in the cold air searching for the voice again.

"Hello!" he yelled as he could hear his voice bounced off destruction of the village.

He listened intently for what felt like forever.

"Terrance."

The voice was behind him to the left. He ran for several meters, and then came to a sudden halt. A white command wolf was buried under rubble, leaving only parts of its head exposed. It looked as if the fire upon it was just finished. What took Terrance by surprise was the look of the Command Wolf. It looked down right angry and furious. Disappointed in him. Why weren't you here? What were you doing? It then hit him. This Zoid belongs to Anastasia.

He ran closer to it, and tried to pull the cockpit open. The metal on the Zoid was still searing hot, with all of his might, he opened it to find a barely conscious Anastasia in the cockpit. She looked like she took the huge brunt of cannon.

"Anastasia! Anastasia! Get up!"

He shook her shoulder. She was still warm. Was it because she was in the fire? Is she was still alive. He checked her pulse. She had one. It was incredibly faint. He grabbed her and unstrapped her from the seat, and she fell into his arms. He walked towards his Blade Liger to place her inside, and then her eyes widened.

"Terrance. Terrance?" she mumbled.

"Anastasia!" he said cheerfully. "You're up! Where is everyone else!?"

She looked far less cheerful. "We have to leave."

What happened to everyone? What happened!?" he asked.

Anastasia was more conscious now, but still hadn't moved from Terrance's arms. "Desmond evacuated a lot of people. I had to hold the big one off. I lost… obviously."

Terrance chocked on his words. He was no help. He brought this on everyone.

Just then a hard thud hit the landscape. Terrance and Anastasia looked over Terrance's shoulder and the scene was frightening. The Deathsaurer was in their view due to its massive size, and they could feel the cannons target the Blade Liger.

"Terrance, we have to go!" She yelled.

Shoving Anastasia over his shoulder, he took off at a full sprint for the Blade Liger. The Ultrasaurus was readying its Charged Particle Cannon by the time Terrance threw Anastasia in the cockpit. He sat in his seat, and the Liger reared its head and ran south as fast as he could. The Charged Particle Cannon shot his where he was mere moments ago, but he was still fine. Terrance in a panic and with his piloting skills managed to avoid the shots from the rest of the Deathsaurer cannons, even though the shellshock of the weapons vibrated and shook his already weakened Zoid. He had seen the Ultrasaurus in the northernmost village of the planet and barely made it out alive. But where would he go now? Who would he turn to? Where could he get medical help for his partner Anastasia? Just where was his best friend Desmond and the people? Where did they get evacuated to? Did he make it out ok?

Fleeing the scene, he swore to destroy Laon and the Deathsaurer.


	11. Laon's Targeting Trap

**Chapter Eleven**

**Laon's Targeting Trap**

"Are we done here?" Brad asked.

"Oh yeah. The Shadow Fox is as good as new!"

Brad was in the parts shop. His Shadow Fox needed to be overhauled to make sure there was no permanent internal damage. After Terrance left yesterday, he turned his attention to the Shadow Fox. Being the ultimate work of Laon, Toros handling it appeared to be far too risky. This was much to the dismay of Jamie of course, but Brad refused to take any chances with his prized Zoid.

"And you replaced the damage done to the smokescreen vents as well?" Brad asked.

"Not only are they replaced, the vents cover a much wider area and blow up to thirty percent more smoke!" the man gladly exclaimed.

"Well thanks old man, glad to hear." Brad said. "You have yourself a nice day."

Brad exited the shop and walked into the garage next door. He entered the cockpit of his Zoid, and was immediately heckled by the pilot of the Liger Zero.

"Well, Brad. I don't think you could have taken any longer!" Bit joked.

"Oh, whatever. You're just upset my Shadow Fox requires more maintenance than your hunk of junk." Brad said with a grin.

"SAY THAT AGAIN!"

Bit also had his Zoid overhauled and all of the armors of the Liger needed serious repair. The Jager boosters were damaged, the Schneider blades were dull and a few blades needed to be replaced and the Panzer armor had to have all of its weapons reloaded. Plus Bit wanted the regular white armor polished. This was against the wishes and pleads of Jamie as well, but the Liger Zero is the real bread winner for the team, so it was necessary anyways. As of now, the liger was in its white armor and the other armors were currently being shipped to the base.

Bit and Brad exited the city in their Zoids, and were back into the desert in barely an hour's time. Dinner would be served in about an hour, and Bit could not wait.

"So Bit." Brad radioed. "You think it was Laon who attacked the city last Saturday?"

Bit thought. "It had to have been right? I mean the guy was gunning for me the entire way. I'm just glad Leena was safe. "

Brad grinned. "Well I bet you are Mr. Cloud." Possibly hinting at something else.

"Hey, what are you getting at?" Bit yelled.

"Oh, you know exactly where this is going." Brad sneered.

"Well there is nothing going on between me and Leena, if that's what you're asking!" Bit yelled.

Brad smiled again. "Well sorry for you, I'm not asking. I'm observing."

Bit was furious. "But you and Naomi-"

Just then movements picked up. It seemed that Bit and Brad were not the only ones in the desert. They looked behind then, and there were at least twenty Hellcats running towards them.

"Well look at that? We'll continue this conversation never." Brad turned his Shadow Fox to face the oncoming Hellcats.

"My thoughts exactly! I can handle most of them myself, just sit back and watch!" Bit proclaimed in his trademark cockiness.

"Oh yeah, still cocky and you don't have any other armor on. Sit back, Bit." Brad said, self-assured.

Brad opened fire upon the Hellcats and took down two.

"Hey, they're mine!" Bit charged into the fray.

Using his Strike Laser Claw, Bit took down one of the Hellcats. Brad didn't allow the Hellcats to out maneuver them, and he ran around them and discharged his smokescreen. Brad then fired into the cloud of smoke, and then took out several of the Hellcats.

"Strike Laser Claw!" Bit yelled and clawed straight through the cloud and took down a single Hellcat.

"Why were these guys following us!?" Bit asked, tackling and biting the neck off a downed Hellcat.

"The better question is why they are surrounding us, and not shooting at us?" Brad pondered as he clawed another Hellcat.

Bit took a step back, and he did realize that the Hellcats had not taken a shot at the pair of Zoids. Not a single one had so much as made an attempt to harm the liger or the fox.

"Wait a second. You're right." Bit noticed as well. "Why are they running around and surrounding us then?"

Bit and Brad backed their Zoids closer together. The remaining Hellcats kept running in a circle around the two pilots. They looked closer and saw that they all were unarmed too. This made no sense. Why were they being "attacked" by unarmed Hellcats?

"Bit, do you see that? The Hellcats are unmanned."

"Yeah. Whats going on?" he asked.

Over in the distance they suddenly heard a voice.

"Don't stop moving!" it said.

From seemingly nowhere, a blue Blade Liger leaped over the Liger and the Fox and withdrew its blades and severed three of the Hellcats. After shooting another, and tackling the last with its hidden blades, Brad recognized who the pilot was.

"Hey! I thought you were-"

"Don't stop moving! You shouldn't have attacked the Hellcats!" Terrance yelled.

Bit looked puzzled. "But you just defeated some! Where did you come from! And why do we have to keep moving?"

Terrance looked into the sky. "Look up!"

Brad and Bit looked in the sky. They were both in shock and awe. There was a Pteras flying in the sky. Not just one, but _at least_ thirty.

"That's why!" Terrance yelled. "Those Hellcats weren't here to attack you. They were sent out to tail you and find your position! And when you destroyed them, you confirmed it!"

Brad unconsciously backed his Zoid away from the fleet of Pteras. "What do we do? Who's controlling them? Why are they looking for us!"

The fleet began to then release fire at the three Zoids and drop bombs as well as fire from their regular guns.

"Do you want to play twenty questions and dodge the bullets? OR DO YOU WANT TO RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" Terrance yelled.

"The second one sounds a whole lot better!" Bit yelled.

The three Zoids ran south and away from the fire as fast as they could.

"Terrance! How do you know about these things!?" Brad asked.

"Why are we still playing the question game!?" Terrance yelled back.

A bomb landed right behind the Blade Liger, but the Zoid remained unscathed as bullets rained down on all three pilots.

"Just answer the question kid!" Bit yelled, getting clipped by a few bullets.

"I ran into a few of them earlier today!" Terrance yelled, avoiding another bomb, and getting hit in the back with a few bullets. "It's definitely a targeting trap! And you fell for it!

"We have to stand and fight!" Bit yelled.

"Bit, NO! They have to run out of ammo soon, then we'll capitalize!" Brad ordered.

"NO! You two don't get it! They will only slow us down and will stall for time! Then more will come!" Terrance yelled. "Then the Deathsaurer will be here!"

The army of flying Zoids did not let up. The pilots continued to run for several more minutes, running as fast as their Zoids would allow. After all the shockwaves and explosions from the ensuing bombs and the seemingly endless gunfire, the pilots could no longer keep running. The Blade Liger was already weakened, and one bomb fell specifically on its hind legs and fell to the desert sand. Bit and Brad hesitated for a split second as to whether to help him or run. That slight hesitation cost them. They continued to flee, but soon fell in the desert sand and were soon engulfed in a huge cloud of smoke and fire.


	12. The Commission's Response

**Chapter Twelve**

**The Commissions Response**

Leena sat in the middle room of the base. In her hands was a glass of orange juice, but she was too scared and fearful to take a sip. She was staring at it as if it was going to be the answer to her problems. It wasn't. Her father sat next to her, his comforting arm around her, but it held no substance. Jamie was at the head of the room, looking at the same moving paragraphs looking for some loophole of which there was not. The Zoid Battle Commission had sent every team and pilot a message. The text was direct. They ordered every pilot to join up into a "New Army" to combat the Deathsaurer, or get their Zoids taken away, be banned from Zoid battles for life, and face up to a hundred years in prison.

It was either leave the sport you love forever and die fighting the Deathsaurer, or die in prison. The choice was not as easy as one could expect. Naturally, Leena and hundreds of other pilots would choose to fight the Deathsaurer, yet there lied the problem. It was virtually unbeatable. They had to get into a dangerously close range to achieve any real damage. Due to the multiple Charged Particle Cannons and extremely precise and deadly long range weapons that were on the Zoid, this task was impossible. With that, Laon had to have made a multitude of smaller Zoids to keep the opposition from concentrating their efforts all at one time. Even if one had managed to destroy all of those, there was still the Deathsaurer to deal with. The impenetrably thick armor that surrounded it could not be broken through. Needless to say, the prospects of victory looked bleak. The atmosphere surrounding this battle was almost too much to bear. They were pilots for more a regular battle. Not war.

Leena and Jamie had to fight. They were young and good pilots. However, another thought weighed on their minds just as heavy as before. They had yet to see Bit and Brad. They just made a trip to the part shop just this morning. They should have been here hours ago.

Jamie took a seat next to Leena and sighed heavily. "We have to meet up with our team north of here. We have to defend the city first. I'm in the air, you're on the ground."

Leena didn't even look up from her coffee cup. "Did you get a hold of Bit or Brad?"

Jamie shook his head. "No, I haven't. I tried their personal phones and their Zoids radio. They haven't responded yet."

As soon as her emotions were about to get the best of her and break down in tears, a knock happened on the door of the base. Sprinting to the door, Leena and Jamie were expecting their missing teammates. The result fell far short of their expectations. It was just a delivery guy shipping the Ligers armors from the parts shop. When asked about Bit and Brad, he said they left about an hour before he did. He didn't see them on the way to the base. Leena's hopes were down again.

"I'll go try to track their Zoids through satellite again." Jamie sighed. "Hopefully something comes up this time." He sulked away.

"I-I'll go get your Zoids together." Doc said, defeated in his attitude. Words wouldn't do much here. He left the room to leave Leena to her thoughts.

Anastasia woke up in a bed. Her wounds were bandaged; she was rested but had a massive headache. Where was she? How did she get here? Who took care of her wounds?

A woman in white rushed to her side. "Oh look, you're up!" she said. This woman was a nurse. So she was in a hospital? "We thought it would be a while before we saw those eyes again."

Anastasia rose up. "Where am I?"

"You're in the central hospital, dear. A young man had taken you from wherever his Zoid was and placed you here. You looked really beat up."

Anastasia couldn't believe it. "Wait, a boy brought me here? Was his name Terrance or Desmond?"

The nurse shook her head. "I don't know. He didn't give us a name. He was being chased by a squad of other Zoids, so he had to hurry and run. He wanted us to give you the best care we possibly could."

So it was Terrance. Anastasia was saved by Terrance in the village and brought here. Just then, Anastasia realized that there were a lot of people running around outside of her room.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"We have to evacuate all of the people here. The Deathsaurer is on a warpath straight here. We have to get out of here, quickly."

The nurse grabbed a hold of the bed Anastasia was on, and after disconnecting a few wires, rushed her out of the room. A large piece of Anastasia wanted to stay and fight, but she wanted nothing to do with that Deathsaurer again.

The following morning was the tensest morning in the history of the Blitz Team. Unexpectedly, Leon Toros came to the base to talk to his father and sister. Leon was part of the special operations group. He was in this group with Bit Cloud and the Liger Zero, Brad Hunter and the Shadow Fox, Terrance Hatfield and his Blade Liger, Jack Sisco and the Lightning Saix, and Sigma Stoller and his Elephander.

"You two be careful out there." Toros said. He couldn't bear the thought of losing both of his children to war.

"Don't worry dad. We both will return here safely." Leon told him. "I promise."

Doc and Leon gave each other a hug, and Leon ran into his red Blade Liger and ran off into the desert. Jamie, who was in his Raynos, looked at Doc. They nodded at each other. Words were not necessary. Jamie took off into the skies, and that was the end of their moment. Leena, the Gun Sniper and Doc were left. Leena rushed into her father's arms, and hugged him tightly. He kissed her on the forehead, and a single tear rushed down his right cheek. Leena let go of her father, and got in her Zoid. No more words were exchanged, and she took off for the city.

"Leena!" Leon appeared on her screen. "You're in the front. So as soon as you arrive at the city, check-in and head north."

"Understood." She said, in an unusually hollow voice.

Leon took the hint in her voice. "Are you ok? Still worried about Bit, Leena?"

Leena pushed her Gun Sniper forward. "Only a little." She lied. "It's not like him to just not call. And Brad too. What happened to them?"

"They might have ventured off to fight Laon already." Leon said.

Leena would have ordinarily chastised Bit and Brad viciously whether they were in her presence or not, but this time- it just wasn't in her. She couldn't find herself to be angry with them, especially with her not knowing where they were.

"I hope not. There's no way they could have been so thick." Leena said.

Just then, from behind her three Zoids ran past Leena at break neck speeds. There could have been only one team capable of that kind of speed. The team of the Lightning Saixes.

"Chris! Kelly! The city is right ahead. You break off here to where you're supposed to go. I'll meet you back at the base when we win this fight."

"Gotcha!" Chris and Kelly said, and bolted off slightly to the right, moving in a different direction.

Leena peeled off after them. Jack caught up to Leon's Blade Liger, and Jack's face popped up on Leon's screen.

"Well, well." Jack said. "Looks like you're with me."

Leon smiled back. "I guess so. Looks like we might not be able to have our match for a while."

"Just the sight of a Blade Liger makes me sick these days." Jack grumbled. "Just follow directions, and keep your distance from me."

"Well then, Jack. I'll be sure to tell the Blue Blade Liger to stay away from you as well." Leon said with his trademark friendly expression still on his face.

This is competitive and friendly expression is exactly what the world needed in preparation for what's to come, even as unprepared as they were.


	13. Wave Number One

**Chapter Thirteen**

**Wave Number One**

The makeshift army of Zoid Pilots stood in their according formation. A booming voice was heard through all of their speakers.

"Pilots! Remember your roles and positions! You are a unified force now! Take them down!"

The Zoid Battle Commissioner was on the screen of every pilot in the frontline bellowing out his instructions in intricate detail. Leena sat in the inside of her Gun Sniper, fingers on the triggers. The report was that the force and the Deathsaurer could arrive any moment now. Leena was in the frontline, surrounded by Zoids of nearly every model. There were about three rows of Zoids in front of her. To her right was a pilot of the Fuzzy Pandas/ Zabre Fangs team. In front of her was a pair of Command Wolves, and to her immediate left was a De-Bison. Leena was ready for battle, as ready as she'd ever be, but she couldn't focus. Where was Brad? Where was Bit? Had they run off? Had they created some new armor to be the Deathsaurer? Were they on their way here? Were they… dead?

"Get ready pilots! They're showing up on radar!"

Sure enough, down the horizon were Zoids moving faster and faster into view. There were also flying Zoids that were moving far faster than any pilot had ever seen. Plenty of pilots were taken aback, whether they were on the ground or the air.

"Airborne Squad! Take flight!"

All of the airborne pilots took flight overhead, and it didn't take a Matrix Algebra master to know that they were at a clear disadvantage. The opposing Zoids looked sleeker, smaller and faster. They were all the same model, and were in perfect uniform formation. They had to have been remote programmed and controlled. For any air unit to truly succeed, all of the pilots must be completely uniform in both abilities and capabilities of whatever they are piloting.

On the human side however, they had a various batch of pilots, a massive skill differential, and the capabilities of the Zoids were completely different. They were at a clear disadvantage in the air. Leena had seriously wished that the Wild Eagle would take over, and fast. She wanted to see and hear from Jamie after all of this was over. In a painfully long thirty seconds, the fight in the air had begun. Bullets were flying, Zoids were falling from the sky, and a stray bullet or rocket hit the ground every other minute. Leena's faith that her life would be safe had really been shaken at this moment.

"Come on Jamie. I can't see you, but fight your best!" Leena said, looking in the sky.

Just then, the fight on the ground was set to start. Faster than the blink of an eye, A Command wolf two rows behind her was seemingly sucked underground.

"What was that?" she screamed.

Directly to her left, the De-Bison that once stood there vanished underground as well. All of the pilots looked around in a panicked manner, and three more Zoids were pulled underground in a period of five seconds. Only one Zoid could have done this.

"Warsharks!" Leena cried out.

To confirm this, Warsharks leaped from the ground, and shot at several pilots, directly hitting each and every one of them. Each Warshark then bit a Zoid and took it down to the desert sand, and they began to sink from view. Leena was hit with fire from one, but she remained standing.

"Everybody move!" someone called out.

The entire area of Zoids scrambled, and the fight was on. As Leena and a group of Zoids scrambled left, the other ground troops of the opposition began to arrive. They were all Hellcats. They weren't just any Hellcats. Their armor was thicker, and their bodies were created to cancel out the extra weight and make them move faster. Warsharks began to pop up above ground more frequently and shoot at the pilots that were focused on the Hellcats, and continued to pull unsuspecting pilots underground.

"Take this! And this! And some of that!" Leena screamed as she had her fingers on the trigger. She took down a Hellcat and a Warshark that were clearly obliterating her allies.

"Well, look who we have here." Leena heard behind her.

She looked for the source of the noise, and there was Naomi Fluegel and her own Gun Sniper, taking down Warsharks and Hellcats with pure ease.

"Oh hi Naomi!" Leena said grudgingly. "Came to prove why my Gun Sniper is better than yours?"

Naomi grinned and shot down an exposed Warshark, and the bullet went through her original target and still took out a Hellcat behind it. "Nah, I have already proven my skills are superior to yours. So what does it matter if yours is better?"

Leena's face became red with anger. "Well maybe if you-"

"Quick! Move!"

Naomi shouted at the warning as a flying Zoid crashed and fell to the ground, kicking up a lot of dirt and debris. Leena kept fleeing from the fallen Zoid as it burned and charred in the ground. She closed her eyes tightly amidst the gunfire and hoped that it wasn't Jamie in there. She then opened her eyes, and saw a Hellcat coming down at her with its claws, ready to kill. She panicked, and instead of her pulling the trigger like she normally does, she froze. The thought of her actually dying crossed her mind as those razor sharp claws moved closer and closer to her face. This wasn't a game anymore.

Just then, the Zoid was then shot down from the right side. Leena looked to see who just saved her life. It was Kelly Tasker and her Lightning Saix.

"Keep your head in the game Toros!" she yelled, and then charged into the fray of gunfire, smoke and fire.

Leena shook her head to get back in the fight, and ran away as she tried to avoid more falling Zoids from the sky. She held her ground next to a pair of Command wolves and an Iron Kong and they all guarded each other's backs and shot down their opposition, not letting their fingers off the triggers.

"Keep firing!" said the pilot of the large Iron Kong.

Just then, an aerial Zoid flew a few over the head of the Iron Kong, and the sonic boom of its flight had knocked the Zoids, (and a few downed ones as well) flying far from their position. They all hit the ground with a huge thud.

"Ow!"

Leena managed to get her Gun Sniper to rise to its feet. To her right, her Iron Kong counterpart was not so lucky. It was quickly shot down by several Warsharks, as though the Iron Kong resisted and fired back, it was swarmed my at least five Warsharks, and it was quickly drawn underground. Leena heard no further sound from the Zoid. She then pulled the trigger and didn't let go. The three pilots of the Zabre Fangs team (aka the Fuzzy Pandas) were together, fighting their hearts out, surrounded by Hellcats. Leena assisted them by shooting a few rockets at the opposition. Just then, another flying Zoid crashed to the earth, and took out one of the Zabre Fangs in the process.

She had no time to worry, and she kept running and shooting at her targets. A Hellcat hit her Zoid directly in the back and she fell.

"Stupid thing!" she yelled, and shot her attacker down.

She then realized that she was being surrounded by Warsharks and a Hellcat. Without even thinking or aiming, she pulled the triggers in panic.

"Oh no! Get away!" she screamed.

Leena had shot at everything around her, but they all missed by a far and wide margin. The Zoids began to charge in closer to her.

"To your feet!" she heard someone yell.

Just then, she was saved yet again. A Zoid had come to save her. Not just any Zoid, but the seemingly invincible Elephander. The Hellcat that charged at Leena was deflected by the shield of the Elephander, and was crushed. The Warsharks began to surface and shoot at them, but the Elephander's trunk quickly turned into an energy sword, and they were quickly batted away.

"Are you alright?" the pilot asked. Leena recognized it as Sigma Stoller.

"I'm fine. I don't need anybody's help!" she yelled.

"Girl, this is bigger than you. Get your head in the game."

With that, the Elephander returned fire, and moved away from her position, leaving Leena behind, sulking. Leena was about to say something more, but then her Zoid's right leg was bitten and a Warshark was trying to take her Gun Sniper underground to her certain demise. Leena shot it off, but then another bit her left leg. Another surfaced above ground and shot at her, all of the shots connecting and knocking her to the ground again. Another Warshark bit on the neck of her Zoid, and they were about to take her underground. She wanted to call for Stoller to come back.

"No! Someone help me!"

Then for another time today, she was saved. This time, it was none other than her brother. Leon's Red Blade Liger moved in to save the day. In one seamless swipe, two Warsharks were sliced by his blade, and the third he stepped on and crushed.

"Come on, Leena. Are you still worried about Bit?" he asked.

Leena rose up. "A little, yes."

Leon glared at her. "I understand how you feel but you have to put that out of your mind. We have to fight!"

"But look around us Leon!" she told him. "Look at how much good it's doing us!"

They both looked around, and the scene was not good. There was an intense battle going around them, but they were visibly coming on the losing side. They were a match for the Hellcats and Warsharks, but their attacks were vicious. Their numbers were too large, and their patterns were too seamlessly executed. The pilots stood no chance.

"That's no reason to lose faith, Leena. No matter how bad things get-"

Just then, a charged particle cannon blast just fired over their heads.

"Did you just see that!" Leena yelled.

"It looks like the Deathsaurer is here." Leon said calmly, hiding his fear.

"What do we do!" Leena said. "We can't beat that thing!"

Leon pondered. "RETREAT TO THE CITY!"

That word echoed through the entire army.

The pilots didn't need to be told twice as yet another charged particle cannon fired into the battlefield. All of the remaining pilots fled into the protective walls of the domed city as soon as they saw the Deathsaurer move closer and closer through the horizon. Only two things they were certain of. One, they had neither method nor a plan of truly killing the Deathsaurer. Two, however they would defeat it, they would have to so it without Bit Cloud.


	14. Wave Number Two

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Wave Number Two**

Leena got out of her Gun Sniper and looked at her surroundings. There was a huge black dome over the city, and the city was empty and barren. Not a single civilian was here, which was the only positive for the army. They could fight without fear of harming civilians. However, she then looked at the pilots. A few were trying to repair minor damages to not only their Zoids, but themselves as well. A quick look at this scene revealed the harsh reality that the pilots had no chance at winning. They were outmanned, outgunned, and hilariously outclassed. It was painfully obvious to see that no pilot wanted to be here, nor did they have any real intention of winning, but just to fight have this nightmare over and done with. The pilots that were still able bodied were further unmotivated and didn't want to fight anymore after seeing what they were up against and the wounded couldn't fight if they wanted to. But what waited for them outside the dome would come after them whether they refused to pilot or not.

"Leena, you ok?"

Leena turned around to see Naomi again, out of the Zoid and sitting on the cold pavement next to Leena.

"I'm fine Naomi!" Leena scowled. "What's it to you anyway?"

"Drop the act, Toros." Naomi said, not making eye contact. "This is no time for old rivalries."

Leena could hear the seriousness and sincerity in her voice. It was almost unfamiliar. She slumped down and took a seat on the cold concrete next to her. Zoids all around them were being repaired, injured were being healed, and people we reloading weapons and preparing to fight again. Air pilots were talking about how they could complement each other and gel as a unit, but it was clearly in vain. _Where was Jamie?_ Leena thought. _Better yet, where is Brad and Bit?_

"Well, what do we do now?" Leena asked. "They're going to break through the wall eventually. The dome on top of us isn't going to hold forever."

Naomi looked up, and sure enough, the dome was beginning to crack, and the wall was under constant fire. "Well, if we go down, we go down fighting."

Leena immediately looked angry. "No! We are not going down, Naomi! We will find a way to win!"

Naomi had not taken her eye off the dome above the city. "So sure, kiddo? Well I admire you're spirit at least."

The two heard a large bang at the wall a few hundred yards in front of them, and then realized that the fight would be even longer. Naomi was always a fighter. She was always cool and had a grip on the situation, but it was obvious to hear the doubt in her voice. It was as if Naomi accepted that she wasn't going to make it out, but she still had that burning desire to take as many of her wanted to take out as many of her opponents with her.

"Naomi, how do we beat that thing?" Leena asked, hoping to garner a legitimate response.

Naomi looked at Leena, then at their Gun Snipers, then back at the ceiling. "We don't." Naomi was always honest, never one to sugarcoat a situation. "The Deathsaurer is just too defensively impenetrable. We'd be lucky to get dust on its armor, let alone crack it."

"Then, how did it get defeated the first time?" Leena asked. "I mean, there had to have been a way that the Ultrasaurus was defeated before."

"Hmmmm." Naomi thought. "Well, that's what they had the Ultrasaurus for."

Leena looked, interested. "The what?"

"Yeah, a massive Zoid with insane defensive capabilities. Its weight and armor was enough to hold off a few blasts from a Charged Particle Cannon. Its offensive power was also powerful enough to destroy an opponent miles away. The cannons on that thing were huge."

"What could destroy that!?" Leena asked, dumbfounded.

Just then, the dome shook. Their time was running out.

"Look, we have to play to our strengths here." Naomi said. "You get to higher ground and help out with the anti-air."

Leena was almost offended someone other than her father or Jamie was giving her orders. "You don't tell me what to do!"

"You won't do the least bit of good on the ground. I saw you out there. You look like a lost puppy when you don't have Bit or Brad out there."

Leena stood up. "Lost puppy! Say that again!"

Naomi stood up was well, as the huge dome shook yet again. "Lost. Puppy."

The dome shook a violent time yet again. The scene was hurriedly trying to rush people into the Zoids, or people trying to move the wounded. They were not moving fast enough.

"Like I said Leena. Get to higher ground and help out the air. I'll get to higher ground and help out the ground. Agreed?"

"WHY SHOULD I?!"

Just then, a blinding pink beam of light blew a hole through on side of the dome and out on the other, leaving two holes above the city. Every pilot froze as the next few seconds were agonizing. Then, suddenly Hellcats and flying Zoids crawled through the holes like a colossal colony of ants you can't hope to control.

"Ok ok ok! I get what you're saying!"

Leena and Naomi hurried into their Gun Snipers, as they tried to avoid gunfire from all angles. Suddenly, the Elephander appeared in front of them, its large trunk turned into a shield to protect both females.

"Come on you two!" Stoller yelled. "Get in your Zoids! Bottleneck those oncoming Zoids!"

Stoller then fired several missiles at the aerial Zoids flying through the first hole in the dome that was rapidly deteriorating. Leena hurried into her Gun Sniper, and then pulled on the trigger, and every missile and bullet she had was released. To her surprise, every missile connected with its target.

"Oh yeah! You see that, Naomi!" Leena looked around. "Naomi?"

Naomi did not stick around. In the short time it took Leena to fire all of her weapons, Naomi actually managed to climb into a random suite of a tower close by, and began to take out targets with expert precision that only she had.

"Sorry. Were you talking Ms. Toros?" she said slyly.

"I'll show you, Naomi!" Leena said, her anger clearly in control.

But something was happening. Things began to turn for the worst. As soon as Leena tightened her grip on the triggers of her Gun Sniper, another beam of light speared through the failing dome of the city and destroyed at least three city blocks.

"They're firing on the city!" a pilot yelled.

Just then, another beam of light rushed through the dome, this one being closer to ground level, and it rushed and took out a whole squad of Zoids, and sent rubble and ashes into the air. Massive fragments of the dome overhead began to fall onto the Zoids below, regardless of what side they were on, in addition to exploding aerial Zoids falling like craters.

"Naomi! Get out of that building!"

Leena's warning came far too late. This time, three pink beams of light tore through the city. The first went through both sides of the dome that was already collapsing. The second ripped through the city, destroying more Zoids and buildings. Fires ripped through the city, and buildings were collapsing. The third and final one hit the exact building Naomi was in, and ripped through several more buildings, causing them all to collapse. Whether Naomi was on the same level as the blast, Leena could not tell.

The dome could no longer stand above the city with its massive holes and flaws. It began to totally collapse on the burning and destroyed city. The middle of the dome is what gave way first, and the entire dome soon fell quickly afterwards and everyone underneath was buried. What they failed to realize was that in putting everyone in the same dome, they actually made the job easier for Laon and his invincible Deathsaurer.

...

In moments, the dust cleared, the rubble began to settle, and the small flames on charred and warped metal began to die. Visibility was low, and more falling materials began to impact the scorched earth. Whether they were from Zoid parts, or rubble from buildings, or even- pilots or people was unclear. The scene was a saddening and depressing one. On the ground itself, one of the Zoid pilots managed to somehow crawl out of their zoid- or rather; what was left of it.

Leena Toros had just climbed out of the cockpit of her Gun Sniper. The zoid was now reduced to a wreck, most of the zoid's weapons apart from the actual body of her machine. She didn't pay attention, nor did she notice how bad her own wounds were until she moved. There were bruises and cuts all along her body, and she felt as if she had broken her left arm in two. Her head was bleeding slowly, and tears were sprinting from her eyes to her chin. This didn't matter to her. She took a look at the scene of death around her, and it was something she couldn't have imagined nor prepared for in her worst nightmare. It took all of the happiness in her soul away in an instant.

"No. NOOOOO!"

She quickly fell to the ground. The dust and dirt in the air danced on her pale skin. She didn't care. Everything they prepared and fought for was all for naught. It was gone- all of it.

"Brad! Jamie!" Her voice screamed out into the distance, desperately praying for her comrades. Only silence returned her cries.

Reality then burned itself in upon her young mind. She looked hopelessly for the wreckage of a green Raynos, or the remains of a Shadow Fox. Her eyes met nothing but destruction around her. There were hundreds of motionless zoids, buried and literally collecting dust. More tears began to form in her eyes and her sobs of sadness became uncontrollable. She couldn't hope to control them, and she buried her face in her hands.

"NOOOOO!"

Her sobs were becoming louder and louder, but nobody was going to hear. Then, the only sign of any possible hope flashed into her mind.

"Bit! Bit! Where are you!" she cried out. Hoping for Bit Cloud to save the day once more, but that looked less and less realistic each passing second. Her life… and the century appeared to be over.


	15. The Resistance

**Chapter Fifteen**

**The Resistance**

Leena frantically searched for anything that she could use to run in, hide under or use to fight back. There was absolutely nothing moving on this mechanical wasteland. Only the Ultrasaurus was up and moving, and inching ever closer to her. She couldn't help thinking. _Why Laon? Why do this? You can't be the one to do this!_

Just then, she felt and heard every cannon on the Ultrasaurus turn and aim at her and the city.

"Laon. No!"

The Charged Particle Cannons began to charge slowly.

"Laon! Don't do it!"

The bright pink light prepared to charge through the remains of what was left.

Tears flowed quickly down Leena's face. "Laon! Please!"

Just then, something unbelievable happened. Smoke appeared all around the Ultrasaurus, and the Charged Particle Cannons fired, but they missed by a far margin.

"What? What happened?" Leena asked.

"You can't have seriously thought we'd have missed this party now would you?"

Leena turned around to see who the voice belonged to, and to her surprise, it was a Zoid standing right behind her. Not just any Zoid, it was the Shadow Fox belonging to the one and only Brad Hunter.

"BRAD!" Leena yelled, tears almost in her eyes.

"Hey there, Leena. I see you've had a rough time." Brad smiled.

Behind Brad, a blue Blade Liger walked closer to the Shadow Fox and roared.

"Let's get this over with." Terrance said from inside his blade Liger.

Even at his presence Leena smiled, but still something was wrong. Where was Bit?

"Where is Bit?" Leena asked.

"Don't worry about it. He's handling Laon as we speak." Terrance said. "Brad, let's get down to it."

"I hear ya." Brad replied. "But how are we going to take this thing down?"

"Not without me!" they heard.

They looked and saw the Lightning Saix appear next to them. Jack Sisco was ready to continue the battle.

"Well, if it ain't Mr. Sisco." Terrance said.

"I will rip you out of that Zoid, and take your soul apart with the scrap metal I'll make out of its armor, Terrance!"

Terrance laughed. "It's good to see you too."

"Hey! Not the time!" Brad yelled. "We need a plan now! We have to get that cockpit and knock them out!"

They all thought.

"Drafting strategy?" Terrance suggested. "That will get us in close. We all got fast Zoids."

"We have to get close. We have to do something about its head. Sever its neck!" Brad yelled.

"He took out the last of his force with that last attack on the dome thinking it was going to be over." Jack said. "We should be fine now to engage it."

"Then its settled!" Brad yelled to the pilots of the Blade Liger and the Lightning Saix. "SCATTER!"

…

Dr. Toros sat on the side of his base.

"I sure hope Leena is okay." He said. "and Bit, and Brad, and Jamie for that matter. I just wondered why Laon is doing all of this…"

"TO GET TO YOU!" A demonic voice yelled.

Toros looked up, and in his face was one of the rarest Zoids ever. A black Genosaurer. Not only was it a black Genosaurer, Laon himself was piloting it. The shock almost gave Toros a heart attack.

"L-Laon!? What- How did you get that!?" Toros yelled in fear.

Laon's demonic smile crept on his face. "You need not worry about that, Toros. Just know that this is going to be the instrument of your destruction. I've built it from the ground up, and I've thought about you with every step."

Toros backed away as the Charged Particle Cannons began to charge. "Laon, don't do this!" This was the first time that Toros experienced legitimate fear. His life literally flashed before his eyes. He was about to die.

"I have waited too long for this Toros! I knew if I could create an event large enough to get everyone else to focus on something, you would be alone and vulnerable." Laon screamed. The Charged Particle cannons were ready. His long awaited revenge was finally within reach.

"SAY GOODBYE, TOROS!"

The Charged Particle Cannons fired, but they missed into the open air. The Genosaurer was charged and knocked down by a familiar legend.

"Sorry I'm late old man!"

"Bit!" The doctor said in glee. "You're here!"

Bit and his Liger Zero sat back in its normal white armor. "Of course. You didn't think I'd let Laon come here and roll over you now did I?"

The Genosaurer and Laon rose to their feet. "Bit Cloud! What are you doing here!?"

"We came to put an end to you!" Bit yelled. The Liger Zero roared in anger and anticipation of the amazing fight to come. "What you did to those people in the stadium, I'll make you pay for that!"

"You do not realize what you are messing with!" Laon yelled. "I am piloting the last Zoid of its kind! You and your overrated Liger shall not get the best of me!"

Bit laughed at the fact he heard this speech many times before. "Me and Liger have always been the best team. Now I'm going make you respect our place in history! Again!"

Bit charged his Liger straight at the Genosaurer of Laon, and the battle was on.


	16. Of a Fox and Liger

**Chapter Sixteen**

**Of a Fox and Liger**

The Deathsaurer fired its Charged Particle cannons at the Shadow Fox, but it missed by a slim margin. The Shadow Fox avoided cannons and shots from all the weapons on the Deathsaurer as it moved ever closer. It then got caught and took a few shots to its body and fell to the desert sand.

"Oh! Come on!" Brad yelled. "Can't even get close to it!"

Behind him, Terrance and his Blade Liger were having an equally hard time getting into close range with the Deathsaurer. "Come on! This should be easier than this!"

The Blade Liger avoided fire for the moment, but it was only running in circles, not advancing anywhere. Jack Sisco and his Lightning Saix was suffering the same fate.

"We need something heavier!" Jack yelled in frustration.

The next thing they knew, the Elephander appeared by their side, piloted by none other than the former-Backdraft captain himself; Sigma Stoller.

"Alright. Do we have a plan of attack even?" Stoller asked.

The Blade Liger walked to his side. "Nowhere near." Terrance told him.

Stoller pondered. "If we had some form of air support this would be easier."

Brad sneered as his Shadow Fox rose to its feet. "We are the air support."

Another wrench was thrown into the plan. What were they to do?

"It's a bit of a stretch, but it's an idea nonetheless." Stoller said.

"Let's hear." All of the men said in unison.

"We take a spread offensive approach." Stoller explained. "That massive thing is slow. And I'd imagine a limited range of motion. If we move in at different angles all around it, one of us has to get there eventually."

Terrance was skeptical. "What do we do when we get there?"

"Hit its cockpit and hit it hard. Whoever is piloting it has to go." Stoller replied.

All four men looked at each other. Seeing no other way to go, they used their Zoids' speed to their advantage and scattered.

…

Bit Cloud on the other hand was having a difficult time with the Genosaurer.

"Take this!" Bit yelled as his Liger slashed at the Genosaurer.

The Genosaurer moved out of the way, and fired its guns at Bit and the Liger. Bit was not able to move out the way and took all of the shots.

"Argh!"

Laon laughed. "I told you that you can't compete with me Bit!"

Bit and his Liger struggled to get to their feet.

"This is insane." Bit told himself. "He's too powerful." For the first time in his life, Bit actually knew he was outclassed. He couldn't think of a way around the strength of the Genosaurer.

"_We are not going to give up now!"_The Liger roared at Bit.

"I hear you partner." Bit talked back. "But still-"

"_None of that. Pick it up and get moving!"_

Bit wiped his forehead. "Of course buddy! Let's get back into it!"

The Liger roared at the Genosaurer and fired shots from its underbelly cannon. Those shots hit the sand at the feet of the Genosaurer. The desert sand hit the air, making visibility incredibly low.

"You are extremely predictable, Bit. Everyone and their mothers know you are going to use that Strike Lazer Claw."

The move never came. Bit fired his cannon into the cloud of sand, and the shots connected with the armor of the Genosaurer.

"Argh! Bit you scum!"

Laon fired his Genosaurer cannons at the cloud of sand. None of them connected.

"Now where is he!?" Laon yelled.

The dust settled. Upon looking, Bit was nowhere to be found.

"Strike! Lazer! Claw!" Bit yelled from above.

"Same old Bit." Laon muttered.

He turned his Genosaurer around, and used its tail to knock Bit and the Liger out of the air. As the Liger Zero fell to the sand, Laon fired its weapons upon the downed Zoid.

"Same predictable, Bit."

…

The spread offensivee technique was not proving its usefulness either. However since it was the only strategy that they could think of, they had no choice but to try it. The pilots and their Zoids were taking more fire the closer they got to the Deathsaurer, regardless of their distance from each other. While they were all trying to spread out and move in closer at the same rate, Terrance was quickly becoming fed up.

"Forget this!" Terrance yelled in anger. "I'll take the shot myself. You guys can catch up!"

Without further warning, he pushed his Zoid as fast as it could go, and tried to avoid as much fire as it could. While their plan was to all move in at the same pace, Terrance ignored that.

"Ignorant kid!" Brad yelled. He pushed his more agile Shadow Fox to do the same.

The two Zoids still took fire, but still moved as fast as they could towards the Deathsaurer, who was giving them all that it had. It hit Terrance and his Blade Liger with plenty of good shots, but Terrance got back up and continued running. At full speed, Brad was hard to hit. They both were approaching the Deathsaurer, and were getting ever closer to taking the shot to end this.

"Where are we hitting it!?" Terrance yelled, running as fast as he could.

"Gotta aim for the neck. Sever the connection between the cockpit and the body!" Brad replied.

Terrance was taking so much fire that his Blade Liger could fall apart and at any moment. He became close enough to take the shot! "Oh, I got this!" His liger opened its blades. "Come here!"

He was close enough to sniff the armor of the Deathsaurer, but in his haste he forgot to check around himself. He took a Charged Particle Cannon to the body. The blast destroyed the behind of his Zoid, taking away his severing both of his hind legs.

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!" he screamed, almost in just as much pain as his Blade Liger seemed to have been.

"Terrance! You ok!?" Brad yelled.

Terrance ignored the urge to be sarcastic and yell back. "Don't worry about me! Take the shot!"

Seeing his chance, Brad leaped in the air and landed on the falling Blade Liger. The Shadow Fox leaped in the air again reaching new heights and its claws began to glow.

"Take this! Strike…!"

Over in the distance, miles away, Bit was still losing.

"Still the same old Bit Cloud!" Laon taunted. "Nothing but a one trick pony!"

Bit and his Liger struggled to get to his feet. "Come on Liger! We aren't done here!"

The Liger moved to its feet and ran at the Genosaurer. Laon, seeing this moment as the easiest way to destroy bit, charged his Charged Particle Cannon.

"Come here Bit Cloud!"

Laon fired his cannons at the Liger, but he aimed higher than he normally would, expecting Bit to jump to avoid the blast. He was wrong, and therefore missed. The Liger slid to the right just enough to avoid the pink beam of light, using lateral quickness and elusiveness that Laon had never known the Liger was capable of. Bit sprinted closer and closer to Laon's Zoid with its claws glowing and victory in his grasp. Take this! STRIKE! LAZER…!

Bit and Brad both saw their windows of opportunity close rapidly, but they did not have time to stop and reconsider. They had to take this chance now. With their Zoids' glowing, and their minds determined, they were set to make their mark on history.

"CLAW!"

Brad sliced at the eyes of the Deathsaurer. The cut was just barely deep enough to cause damage internally to the cockpit. The internal system malfunctioned, and the Zoid's programming was no longer valid. It fell to the desert sand in defeat.

"CLAW!"

Bit brought its Ligers claw down on the head of the Genosaurer, and severed the neck of the Genosaurer. Bit landed in the sand, and the Genosaurer fell in defeat. Laon's plan for revenge was yet again thwarted.


	17. Aftermath Picking Up the Peices

**Chapter Seventeen**

**Aftermath: Picking up the Pieces**

In the aftermath of the fight, there was a lot of speculation, finger pointing, and overall fear, but that toned down quickly. There was a temporary agreement to not hold Zoid battles. All of the pilots were downed, and survivors wanted to spend time with their families rather than getting back into the swing of fighting immediately. This was the case at the main base of the Blitz team. It served as something of a rally point. The regular team was there, and so was Terrance, Anastasia of the Freshman Team, and housed the Fluegel Team duo of Leon and Naomi.

Terrance and Anastasia were the first to have their Zoids rebuilt in the days after the fight. They had the longest road home.

"So, you're leaving? Just like that?" Leena asked.

"We kinda have to." Anastasia replied. "Our village was destroyed because the Deathsaurer."

"We also have to find where the people of our village were evacuated to." Terrance said. "About time we get to it."

"We're gonna miss you kid." Leena said.

"Be careful out there." Brad replied.

Jamie smiled under all his casts and bandages. "Great seeing you!"

Dr. Toros put his hand on Terrance's shoulder. "Well, the offer still stands to join the team if you want it. There aren't any battles going on for a while, so it'd be a good time to whip you into shape for the season."

Terrance put thought into it. This could be the moment he jumped up to the big time. He could change teams. Coupled with the Shadow Fox and the multiple parts of the Liger Zero, he would be that missing piece to make the Blitz Team virtually invincible. Just when he was about to jump and say yes, Anastasia grabbed his hand and looked at him. Her eyes almost in tears, she looked at him. He cursed those eyes of hers.

"Nah. I'd much rather see you guys in my crosshairs whenever we get to Class S." Terrance smiled.

Bit returned the smile. "Alright then. We'll see you on the battlefield one day!"

"That we will!" and they shook hands.

Terrance and Anastasia boarded into the recently repaired Blue Blade Liger. With a mighty roar, the Liger ran into the horizon.

"Well, Bit." Toros began. "You defeated Toros, you beat a Genosaurer, you saved Zoid battles, and you did it all for free. How does it feel?"

Bit ignored the free part. "Feelin' pretty good, Doc. Had loads of fun doing this."

"I just know I'm getting paid for that." Brad said. "If they give me some medal or something I'm melting it down and selling it for cash."

Bit smiled. "Don't be such a Negative Nancy, Brad."

"I'm not being negative. Just realistic." Brad told, folding his arms.

The two men smiled at each other. The world would take a while to return to normal, but they were making strides to do so. They had two men to thank for that, and they both were these smiling males of the Blitz Team.


End file.
